Sunday, 25 March 2012

“I want to offer my warm congratulations to Thomas Mulcair on winning the leadership contest in the New Democratic Party. I know Mr. Mulcair well and look forward to working with him to ensure Parliament acts on behalf of all Canadians.

“I also want to congratulate the NDP for a successful leadership convention, particularly in opening up the selection process to Canadians across the country.

“I also want to salute Mme Nycole Turmel for the integrity she showed as Interim Leader of the NDP. Her grace was apparent as she courageously carried out her duties admirably in the wake of the tragic passing of Jack Layton.”

Today in Toronto, the NDP have chosen Thomas Mulcair to push their agenda of high taxes, high spending and less economic growth. Thomas Mulcair is an opportunist whose high tax agenda, blind ambition, and divisive personality would put Canadian families and their jobs at risk. Mulcair has said he would bring back a risky, job-killing carbon tax which would raise the price of everything – even though Canadians overwhelmingly rejected carbon taxes. Canadians can’t afford Mulcair’s dangerous economic experiments.

Also, Thomas Mulcair has vowed to bring back the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry, and his soft on crime positions would take Canada back to policies that put the rights of criminals ahead of those of victims.

Canadians gave our government a strong mandate to create jobs and economic growth. For hard-working Canadian families looking for a government that will put them first, it is clear that the only choice is Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

I am not a Dipper, but of all the contenders, I have to say Mulcair was my last choice.

I also support the party’s existing policy on further decriminalising the possession of marijuana for any use with the goal to eliminate the influence of organised crime on the production and distribution of marijuana.

Later, asked again about decriminalization:

No. I think that that would be a mistake because the information we have right now is that the marijuana that’s on the market is extremely potent and can actually cause mental illness.

Lorne Nystrom, the national co-chair of Mr. Mulcair's leadership campaign and a former long-time NDP MP, is likely familiar to many who follow federal politics. However, many NDP members may not be aware that Nystrom currently sits on the board of this country's major pro-Israel lobby group, which actively campaigns in support of the Israeli government's inhumane and repressive policies towards Palestinian and other non-Jewish citizens.

This has been a very emotional issue at Dawg's place. They don't like Mulcair for entirely the opposite reason---they think it's a ploy to get rid of Harper at all cost and not better than cooperation with the Liberals on that regard. (ie, some of them are willing to see another Harper government if stopping Harper requires an NDP further to the centre---as cooperation with the Liberals would necessarily entail, or even trying to take Liberal votes to any serious degree.)

But the things you don't like about Mulcair are kind of exactly the things that might give him a shot at winning...

Mulcair was not my first choice either. And that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that the NDP is bigger than its Leader. It is not an American-style political party in which the Leader is the be-all and end-all. Quite frankly, I knew going in that if my candidate dropped off the list I'd have to go elsewhere. And given the ageism and sexism with which her campaign was dismissed I pretty much knew that'd happen. To me, it didn't really matter, so long as it wasn't the establishment boy.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first time the establishment candidate has not won the leadership of the NDP. It could prove to be a very interesting times within the party, a time when everyone is re-aligning and re-investing inside and outside the party.

Mulcair cannot go forward with a united caucus and party unless he bridges gaps. He is going to need the support of progressives within the party in order to do the "reaching out" he claims to want to do. And in order to do that he is going to have to listen and respond.

Last night, in his speech, and today in his news conference he spoke about winning in the Prairies. Well, if he wants to do that, he's going to have to appeal to progressives because the Liberals already vote for the NDP in Saskatchewan. And some progressives stay home, spoil ballots or cast ballots for Greens or other parties as a protest.

What I heard is that he likes Niki Ashton's strategy for winning the west. And the media like him. For the NDP to garner support in the mainstream rightwing media is fucking awesome at this point. let's pretend then that Mulcair is rightwing and let's push him to be progressive.

And ya, he's piss-poor on some issues. But I believe that in appointing Libby as Deputy Leader, he's begun that lean towards progressivism.

I am pulling myself off the floor from yesterday's Mulcair victory. It reminded me so much of Iggy's win where I was hoarse from trying to warn everyone what would transpire. Mulcair to me is the Ignatieff of the NDP. Pro-prohibition, Israel, the environment - NDP supporters looked the other way by electing Mulcair. Over the last few years I've left the Liberal fold and gravitated towards the NDP. Now, I feel like I'm floating again without a party to represent my interests and my needs. Plus, I don't think the broader progressive interests are served by Mulcair. He claims unity within the party but promotes divisiveness among progressives.

I'm with Fern and Jymn on this. Never liked him from day 1. Layton was also an outsider but with lots of grassroots activism and solid municipal performance credibility. Although I didn't like how he pushed the party rightwards on many policy fronts like foreign affairs and crime/public safety, I will credit him with having energy and charisma that made him a very good leader.

Despite his sh*t hot credentials, Mulcair is dull like dirty dishwater in comparison and very much like Ignatieff in that sense. And both Iggy and Tom come across as arrogant and lacking of thoughtfulness.

His victory speech was a disaster. He barely acknowledged the other contenders. Hell, given Rae's statement, he should have written Mulcair's speech.

“I also want to congratulate the NDP for a successful leadership convention, particularly in opening up the selection process to Canadians across the country.

“I also want to salute Mme Nycole Turmel for the integrity she showed as Interim Leader of the NDP. Her grace was apparent as she courageously carried out her duties admirably in the wake of the tragic passing of Jack Layton.”

This is classy and the stuff that should have been included in that victory speech. He also could have mentioned the outrageous recent treatment of labour by the Harper gang and given an indication on how he would fight the upcoming "slash and burn" budget. Good gracious, I hope he doesn't go the f*cking report card route.

I only rejoined the NDP, after more than a decade of being too disappointed in their performance and their actively participating in the game to move political goal posts to the right, to support Romeo Saganash.

I am surprised this guy managed to win, so many people seem to hate him. (He's not who I would have picked either, but not because I hate him -- I just liked Cullen for it.)

OTOH, considering the ditch-pigs in power right now, the opposition leader will need to be a snarling pit bull, so maybe Mulcair's the right guy at this moment. Politics in the Age of Harper is not about to become a bastion of civility just because the opposition elects a leader of intellect and class like Cullen.

it is rather funny that the federal liberals are being lead by a former ontario NDPer & the federal NDP is being led by a former quebec liberal.

The more things change the more they stay the same.Mulcair has the best chance of defeating the Harper-cons, with or without the Liberal's assistance. We now have to wait 4 yrs to the next federal election unless of course elections canada deems some ridings were so "contaimenated" by the robo calls there needs to new elections in those ridings. that of course would be awfully entertaining.

Mulcair also has the best chance of dealing with the "targeted" ads the cons will run against him. They have already started with Bob Rae. I can hardly wait what they will say about Mulcair.

politics has changed. gone are the days of gentlemen politics. its a dirtier sport than ever before. playing nice will get you nowhere. harper has to be beaten at his own game.

the depressing thing about this is that it will eventually corrupt the NDP and any other political party. the future is bleak and full of corruption and the best we can do is pick the party that will do the least damage....